Stacey King, the three-time NBA champion who anchored the paint alongside Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen before becoming one of the most recognizable voices in Chicago Bulls broadcasting, has died at age 59. The news was confirmed on the afternoon of June 7, 2026, by NBA insider Shams Charania, jolting a basketball community that had grown to love King twice over — first as a champion, then as a storyteller.
A cause of death has not been disclosed. The heartbreaking news sent shockwaves through the Bulls fanbase, where King’s voice had become a near-constant companion on game nights for years after his playing career ended.
Born Ronald Stacey King on January 29, 1967, in Lawton, Oklahoma, he grew into a 6-foot-11, 230-pound left-handed big man who carried two nicknames into the pros: “Sky” and “Pearl.” After a standout career at Lawton High School and the University of Oklahoma, the Bulls selected him with the sixth overall pick in the 1989 NBA Draft — a class that would help vault Chicago into a dynasty.
A Foundational Piece of a Dynasty
King made his NBA debut on November 3, 1989, and earned All-Rookie honors that season, appearing in all 82 games and averaging 8.9 points. Though his role evolved as Phil Jackson’s rotation tightened around Jordan and Pippen, King remained a steady contributor through the franchise’s first three-peat, collecting championship rings in 1991, 1992 and 1993.
His statistical peak in Chicago came during the 1991-92 title run, when he averaged 7.0 points across 79 games. He followed that with 76 appearances during the 1992-93 championship season. Across five years with the Bulls, King played 344 games — the bulk of a career that would total 438 regular-season appearances.
The 1993-94 campaign marked the end of his Chicago tenure. After 31 games with the Bulls, he was dealt to the Minnesota Timberwolves, where his role briefly expanded. In 18 games with Minnesota that season, King averaged 11.8 points — the highest mark of his career — playing nearly 29 minutes a night.
A Journeyman’s Final Chapters
King stayed with the Timberwolves through 1994-95, logging 50 games at 5.3 points per contest. He moved to the Miami Heat for the 1995-96 season, appearing in 15 games, before closing out his playing days in 1996-97 split between the Boston Celtics, where he played five games, and the Dallas Mavericks, where he played six.
Over eight NBA seasons, the center-power forward averaged 6.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 0.9 assists, shooting 47.8% from the field and 70.7% from the line, according to career totals. The numbers tell only part of the story. The rings — three of them — and the locker rooms he occupied during one of the great runs in American team sports cemented his place in Chicago folklore.
The Voice That Found a New Generation
What might have been a quiet post-playing life instead became a second act that arguably surpassed his first in public visibility. King transitioned into broadcasting and became a fixture on Bulls television telecasts, where his booming voice, theatrical calls and habit of christening players with nicknames made him appointment viewing — especially during the lean rebuilding years when his enthusiasm often outshone the product on the floor.
“The NBA power forward was on three Bulls championship teams back in the 90’s. King then transitioned to broadcasting, where he was an energetic commentator on local Bulls telecasts, often dolling out nicknames to players over the years,” an official said in a statement reported by CBS News Chicago.
That energy carried him into the homes of fans far too young to remember the Jordan era firsthand. For a generation that knew King only as the man behind the microphone, he was the Bulls — a connective tissue between the championship banners and the rebuild, between memory and the present.
A Community in Mourning
Tributes began circulating within hours of the June 7 announcement, with former teammates, broadcast colleagues and fans flooding social platforms to share memories of King’s calls, his laugh and the way he made even routine regular-season games feel consequential. The Bulls organization had not announced funeral arrangements as of June 8.
King is remembered as a beloved longtime television broadcaster and one of the rare athletes whose second career deepened, rather than replaced, the affection earned in the first. He was 59.